VA Birders,
Joanna Taylor and I decided to go and look for the Eurasian Wigeon in
Fauquier Co. today. Because of the rain and fog, we didn't leave until 10:00
am. When we reached the pond on Harrison Road (Rt. 750), we found some nice
ducks, but no wigeon of either variety. Ducks on the pond today included a
number of Gadwall and Ring-necked Ducks, a few Bufflehead, and a pair of
Common Mergansers. We walked up and down the road, scoping the pond from
different angles, but to no avail, as far as wigeon were concerned. Then we
headed for the pond on Belvoir Road (Rt. 709), to see what we might find
there. Ducks on this pond included a pair of Wood Ducks, more Ring-necked
Ducks, and a Ruddy Duck. We also had our only Eastern Phoebe of the day
there. We then headed back past the pond on Harrison Road, and since a few
cows were down by the water, we stopped there again to see if they had
flushed any wigeon out into the water. They had not. Since by now it was
lunch time, we took Rt. 245 back to Rt. 55 in The Plains and had lunch at The
Rail Stop, our favorite restaurant in the area (it also has clean restrooms).
After lunch, we headed east on Rt. 55 toward Rt. 15 in Haymarket. Along
the way we saw the Great Blue Heron rookery with about 8 herons in it. Then
we stopped at the North Fork Wetlands, on Thoroughfare Road (on the left)
about 2 miles west of Haymarket, in Prince William Co. There we found some
Green-winged Teal, more Ring-necked Ducks, 8-10 Greater Scaup (with rounded
heads and very white sides), a pair of Hooded Mergansers, and another Ruddy
Duck. We also had a female Northern Harrier and a pair of Tundra Swans
there. The swans took flight and headed north while we were there.
From Haymarket we headed north to Loudoun Co. and the Dulles Greenway
Wetlands. We hoped to find the Common Snipe there, but we could not find
any. However, We did see our only Bald Eagle and our first Belted Kingfisher
of the day there. Ducks at these wetlands included 3 or 4 American Wigeon
(our only wigeon of the day), lots of Black Ducks and Green-winged Teal, some
Northen Pintail, as well as more Ring-necked Ducks and Hooded Mergansers.
Our final stop was the Dulles Airport Pond, where we found 7-8 Redheads and
large flocks of both Ring-necked and Ruddy Ducks. With the Mallards we saw
at just about every stop, we had 14 species of ducks for the day in the
Piedmont areas of 3 counties.
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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